Eclectic French bandleader balks at jazz pigeonholes

Roger Levesque, edmontonjournal.com06.22.2012

French horn man Mederic Collignon (shown with his rare pocket cornet) and his jazz-rock-funk unit Jus de Bocse (aka Jukebox) are a highlight of the International series at the Edmonton International Jazz Festival Friday. Photo supplied by Levy Stab.

Tickets: $20, or free with Johnny Jazz Pass, from Tix On The Square (780-420-1757, online at tixonthesquare.ca)

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EDMONTON - As a child, Mederic Collignon became fascinated with a “magical musical box” that he could set to play varied tunes.

Once the French trumpet prodigy grew up it was only natural, then, that he called his band Jus de Bocse, a pun on “jukebox.” As one of the more offbeat, exotic musical options at the jazz fest Saturday, you could hear his jazz-rock-funk quartet bring their high energy excitement to covering Bitches Brew-period Miles Davis, 1980s-era King Crimson, Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess, or Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir.

All that shows up on recent recordings from Collignon’s group, with the leader on a rare pocket cornet, effects and some crazed vocals next to players on double bass, drums and keyboards. It’s a telling thing that the hot, tight Paris-based band played their first show a decade ago after surviving a serious car accident on the way to the gig.

Collignon took up trumpet at five, entered a classical conservatory at 14 and graduated five years later, going on to explore salsa, jazz-rock, funk, reggae, New Orleans grooves and more. He counts his three-year stint in France’s Orchestre National de Jazz as another important growth experience (the ONJ played Edmonton’s jazz fest in 2004).

“I enjoy contemporary music and I love to improvise,” he says. “It’s all just music. The history of jazz is a mix of African and European influences. So is my music, a combination of classic and contemporary sounds, always keeping melody at the centre.”

While Collignon was awarded the prestigious Django Reinhardt prize from France’s Academie du Jazz in 2009, he has encountered his share of skeptics along the way.

“If people think I’m going in all directions they don’t get it. It’s a strength to be able to adapt to all situations. Putting artists in pigeonholes shows a lack of freedom — of jealousy, even. They see you can do many things when they’re limited to one.”

Collignon and his band have two albums out including a Miles Davis tribute.

INTERNATIONAL PICKS

Collignon isn’t the only trail blazing prodigy among the Europeans at this jazz fest.

You could argue that the enthusiastic over-achiever-saxophone-titan Tommy Smith has really put Scotland on the jazz map.

Smith’s sizzling band Karma plays the Yardbird series Friday, June 29.

Consider that Edinburgh-born Smith took up the sax at 12 and had his first band a year later. His community raised a scholarship to send him to Boston’s Berklee College when he was 16, after he had already made his first two recordings. By 18 he was touring the world with vibes master Gary Burton, and at 22 he was signed to Blue Note Records. He formed his own label, Spartacus Records, in 2000 and now has more than 25 solo albums.

Along the way, Smith says, he wanted his community to “make good on their investment” — the scholarship. They did. It took him more than a decade of public lobbying, but Smith was finally able to start Scotland’s first jazz conservatory in Glasgow. More recently he founded the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (working with Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, Kurt Elling and Arild Andersen) and the Youth Jazz Orchestra.

Which brings us to Karma, Smith’s current quartet and latest album, an amazing mash of contemporary electric jazz streams and global influences from his own Celtic folk to Arabic and Japanese elements (he doubles on shakuhachi flute and keyboard).

The acoustic-electric Scandinavian octet Yggdrasil (or “world tree”; Yardbird Series, June 27), is a fascinating, moody, beyond-category experiment in melding Nordic folk, jazz, classical and more, starting with Danish pianist-leader Kristian Blak, musicians from around his home base, the Faroe Islands (they’re about halfway between Norway and Iceland), and all over the region. A highlight is the ethereal presence of vocalist Eivor Palsdottir, who sang on the mainstage of the Edmonton Folk Fest in collaboration with Bill Bourne.

Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick (at Catalyst Theatre, June 29) is a major new rising star on his nation’s busy, percolating jazz scene, touring Canada this year with a unique quintet that also packs two drummers, bass and keyboards. Electro-jazz fans might recall his previous appearances here with Jaga Jazzist and Finland’s Iro Haarla, or know his two notable recent albums of atmospheric soundscapes for the ECM label. A must-see for Euro-jazz fans.

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